The Deckmaster
by FameFiction
Summary: A story about Cayde-6's son, who goes throughout the solar system and has all sorts of exploits with his crew of not so human entities
1. Awakening

A/N: Ok so, this is gonna be a loooong ride. For anyone who doesn't want to commit time to the series and wait for chapters, which will probably be updated on a biweekly - monthly basis, and for those who don't want to get too attached to characters, I advise you stay away. Meanwhile, for those of you who stayed, this story's gonna go from the beginning of Destiny 1, through all the expansions, and then Destiny 2. By the time this is fully completed up to Forsaken, Year 3 will be out. Will also update it to fit year 3. Lotta commitment, but I love the series, so it's worth it.

Let me tell you a story.

A story of when the light fell, the first apocalypse of humanity, the lingering sense of danger now estilled in the solar system. The slaying of great gods and hunt for beings of great power. The rise and fall of heroes and the dangers and wars they've fought. The personal regrets they have, the loved ones they lost. The stories of the sunbreakers, their archives and their lost ways. Hidden heroes and traitors that few even remember. Countless stories for the telling, stored within the elongated passages of my brain.

But every story has a beginning

And this, is mine.

The ghost floated around, carelessly humming a tune as she scanned through the rubbles of the Cosmodrome. Many guardians were found and resurrected here, or she heard from her friends. Everywhere she went though, there were just leftover husks of the stasis pods that held the survivors of humanity. She was used to this by now though. Being given up by guardians, returning to the vanguard, searching for a new guardian, it had almost become a routine for her.

Her scanner couldn't find anything. Sighing, she wrote another log in her electronic journal.

 _Day 104, 5/2/14._

 _Still no luck. All the stasis pods were empty, and the filled ones had filthy humans that I wouldn't even come close to touching. Why am I always the one getting the short end of the stick? My friends all have great guardians that they're attached to. Is it the shell? I always thought green wasn't my color…_

The ghost, unknowing and unaware, was being stalked by shadowy figures. Hiding behind rusted cars, broken poles, and withered trees, them and their four eyed brethren stared at the ghost with hungering lust for her light. The leader of this pack, a captain, just had its ship shot down by a guardian. Reeling from the loss of his ship and many crew members, he gathered up the rest of his crew to hunt the ghost and feed on its light. The surviving dregs, vandals, and marauders moved closer, silent and crouched. They waited in position.

The captain gave the signal.

The marauders rushed forward with great stride and speed, slashing at the unwavering ghost, until one slices it in half. Crying out in victory, it bends down to collect it's prize, when it noticed something odd.

The ghost's shell was black.

Startled, the marauder sworn that he just saw a green one floating. He looked inside the shell.

Nothing.

Roaring in fury, it brought the shell back to the captain, screaming in the native tongue of the Eliksni, until the captain hit it hard across the face. The Eliksni had a heightened sense of smell, and could still track the light metallic smell of the ghost. The crew, lead by the captain, rushed down a small opening which lead to an underground sewage way, long drained and barren.

Even though its crew were infuriated at the loss of a healthy ghost, the captain, in fact, was pleased. This got his crew riled up and filled with spirit to hunt. This would increase their survivability against guardians if they ran into them. The more furious the Eliksni, the harder and stronger they fight.

Meanwhile, on the other hand, the ghost wasn't exactly having a pleasant time.

The ghost rushed down the many elongated, wide tunnels, flashing her scanner everywhere she went.

" _Please,"_ she thought as she kept getting more and more lost. " _Someone, please help me. I don't even care who it is, I just need anyone who would accept me to protect me."_

Getting to a dead end, she tried to break her way out. Breathless and frightened, she found an especially dark corner and hid there. The moss and moist air didn't help her feel any more comfortable, but it did make her harder to find. Thinning her scanner, she went along the walls of the tunnel, looking for any small section to get out. Her eye opened wide, astonished. A small hole, probably dug out by rodents, was on the other side of the tunnel. She was about to float over, when she heard a loud thud. Frantically finding a way to stay hidden, she turned off her scanner and turned to face the wall.

The captain had fond memories of hunting with his old crew when he was still a young dreg. As they went along the tunnels, he told stories of his adventures and greatest feats to the dregs that survived and were new to his crew. Even the Eliksni had their own tales and stories to share. As he was in the middle of telling how his old captain tore off the arm of an exo guardian and attached it to his own body during the fight, a marauder scurried along back to report that he saw some flashing light in the tunnel. Ushering everyone silent, the captain got on all fours and crawled along the ground. His crew followed.

One of the dregs accidentally knocked over an empty can. The captain hissed at it to stay silent as it begged for forgiveness in the Eliksni tongue. They eventually ended up at the dead end that the ghost hid herself in, and thought nothing of it. The marauder pointed out that the ghost had a green shell, and could easily be hiding in the moss, but the captain was fed up with his complaining up until then, so he scolded him and told the crew to check the other dead ends in the tunnel. The marauder mumbled, looked back at the moss piles one last time, and left.

The ghost gasped and took deep breaths as she slowly moved away from the moss pile. After checking to make sure all the Fallen were gone, she hastily floated into the tunnel and kept going. She was afraid of using her scanner, in case it attracts animals or the Fallen. Keeping silent and floating forward for what seemed like an eternity, she finally found what seemed to be a small dug out hatch. She had no idea what was underneath the hatch, but it was better than going out and facing the Fallen. Mustering up her strength, she lifted up the hatch and quickly flew in before it closed again. The hatch made a loud creak as it opened and made a sharp slamming noise as it closed. Cursing under her breath, she turned on her scanner to see where she was.

It was a dimly lit room with few working lamps and a small overhead light. The room had metal walls and thin concrete ceiling/floor. It was built almost like a bunker. There were, however, many nice, but old furniture. The design was somewhat steampunk and reminded the ghost of golden age technology. There was dust everywhere, and the electricity was barely working. Unkempt wires were everywhere and a small computer screen flickers from time to time. The ghost began searching around for any way to contact the tower for help, or any potential cloak or mask, or anything she could hide under.

She began poking around the bookshelf, when she noticed a small lever on the side of the top shelf. She floated up and flicked it. The bookshelf gave a groan and then stopped. Confused, she went around the room looking for the rest of the levers. While she was looking, she was disappointed to find no stasis pods. If she didn't get out soon, she may die in the bunker alone, since there was no way she could leave the bunker from the main entrance, since the Fallen would definitely catch her. She used her scanner on the lever, and ran a program to allow her to scan the whole room for similar objects. One behind the bed, and the last on the side of the computer.

After flicking the one behind the bed, she floated over to the computer. It was quite old, with a blue screen that flicked the words: 'Microsoft' from time to time. She flicked the switch on the side of the computer, and waited.

At first nothing happened, and the ghost was an impatient one. She then very childishly threw herself on the bed and started to complain to seemingly no one.

"Of course the stupid switches don't work!" she moaned as she rolled around and tore the old moth eaten sheets.

"Why do these situations always happen to me? I wish I had a guardian…They'd know what to do in this situation. Not having a good physical body sucks!"

In the midst of her yelling, a secret door opened in the corner of the bunker, very small, just large enough to fit one human at a time. But while she was yelling, a different attention was being direct towards her.

The captain made some makeshift benches and started a small fire by shooting some arc projectiles at some driftwood they found in the tunnels. Cutting down some naturally grown trees, they made a small campout. His crew didn't really mind, but they always question why the captain was so lax all the time. Most Fallen are more vicious than their very open minded, carefree captain, but what they don't realize is that their captain has been a captain for a very long time. The captain has seen many things, killed many ghosts, beaten many guardians. This was nothing new to it. It wasn't particularly old, it simply had a lot of knowledge. The captain began telling another story to the wideyed dregs and the vandals just sighed as they heard the same stories over and over. The marauders patrolled the area.

One marauder didn't want to give up the hunt on the ghost. It continued to search that moss patched dead end, scowling as it thought of the scolding it got from its captain. It made a cackle when it thought of the look of the other Eliksni faces when it brought back the ghost, after consuming its light. Then it'll get the captain to apologize and-

Suddenly, he heard a loud cry, and it was definitely not an Eliksni. It was more robust. More feminine.

Like a ghost.

It began searching the walls for a way to reach the ghost, when it came across the tiny tunnel. It could tell with one look that it wouldn't fit through, but driven by determination, it began to dig out the tunnel with its bare hands. The worn stone came off rather quickly and fueled by the desire of victory, the marauder dug fast and expertly.

He would be there in no time.

After a short break on the bed, the ghost got up and began searching again. Finding nothing, she pouts and knocks over some books, when she heard it.

Digging.

As the slow realization comes to her, she quickly panics. Looking for a place to hide was impossible. Her green outer shell wouldn't fit anywhere, and the only other shell she had stored was a really pretty crystal one, which she didn't want to get damaged (It was given to her by the speaker, and was signed too~!), but what other choice did she have?

She put on the new crystal husk and put down the green shell under the covers of the bed, hoping to buy some time to escape. She looks to the four corners of the room, and there she sees the door that had opened earlier. Rushing in, she slammed the door close and turned the lock. As soon as she turns her back to the door, she heard an old creaking noise.

The Fallen had found her.

Concealing herself by hiding her light, she turned off every visible source of light there was in the room, and only dimly flashed her scanner. Looking around her, this was probably a hidden weapons compartment. In here were some almost mint condition weapons stored in cryo-containers, and made with high quality as well. Not like she could use them of course. Flashing her scanner across weapons, she began to store their data in her mainframe, so that when she escapes she can get her next guardian here to get all the loot. Maybe they'll keep her for that.

"These are all decently high quality guns!" she whispered to herself as she went down the room. Her eye and scanner eventually lead her to a large, round oval like shape. It was dusty and had a small glass door attached.

It was a stasis pod.

Overjoyed, but scared for her life, she controlled her excitement and approached the pod. Looking inside, she was startled by the man in the pod.

He was decently sized, at least 6 foot was her guess, strong muscles but not burly, good frame, not too lean either. He had a handsome face. Sharp nose, pale lips from being in the stasis pod, Skin was pale from being in the stasis pod, and had spiky blue hair.

" _Strange",_ She thought as she examined the pod. " _I thought humans didn't have blue hair. Maybe this one's dyed."_

She was quite happy with the human she found, and the light emanating from her body was satisfied too. Although she had no idea if they would just bail on her and leave, she was willing to take the risk. She flashed her stored light at the pod, and performed resurrection on the human inside. The marauder, sensing the light within, screeched loudly and banged on the door even harder. The ghost closed her eye and prayed for the resurrection to have worked.

The stasis pods' door started to release pressure. Ice cold fog rolled out of the pod as the door elevated itself and dim lights flashed out from the pod. The door swung open and at first, it seemed like nothing would happen. The ghost was about to give up, when she saw a twitching hand come out and grasp the side of the pod.

The resurrection worked. The human had woken up.

Groaning, the young male stood up and blinked. Looking around him, he was in a dank room with barely any lights, and a few small container looking things that held light weaponry inside. Confused at where he was, he stood up, feeling a sharp pain in his side, he reached down and grabbed something metallic and smooth. It felt nice to hold, somehow making him feel warm inside. Curious about the object, he turned it around, and to his surprise, finds a tiny flashlight in it that seems to move on its own.

"Hey, hey! Yea, you! Put me down! I didn't resurrect you for you to grope me, ok?" The ghost pouted as she wiggled in the young guardian's hands.

The guardian, take aback by the fact that this floaty thing was talking to him, let it go and mumbled an apology.

"Sorry, I didn't know you had a consciousness. But uh, that aside, where am I? And who are you?"

"Look, we don't really have time to be explaining this. All you need to know is that there's a crazy alien guy outside who wants to murder us both, so grab a weapon here and just-"

Before the ghost could finish speaking, the door came slamming down. Instinctively, the young guardian ducks and slides behind a storage cell. Hearing strange noises, he holds his breath and silently waits. The ghost lays down right next to him, and breathes heavily.

"What is that?" The guardian whispered, as he peaks around the corner,

"All you need to know is that it's an alien who wants to kill us. Quick, grab a weapon, any weapon! The Eliksni have a great sense of smell and will find us any minute now, even in the dark!"

"Wait, wait, Eliksni? What's that? I'm not really understanding wha-"

"Here, look, here's a gun! Now go shoot that guy so we can get the hell outta here!"

The guardian reluctantly slid the gun off the table. Studying it, it seems to be a 'heavy pistol' of some sort. It has a revolver like barrel, but was built sturdier and heavier than a revolver. It's bullet caliber is much larger as well.

"That's a Duke Mk.34, a legendary-grade hand cannon. Pick it up and use it. It already loaded it for you, so get going!"

"Wait, legendary-grade? What? Why is it called Duke Mk.34? Who-"

"Do you always ask this many questions? Look, the alien's about to show up, so just stop yapping and start-"

The marauder suddenly appeared behind the ghost, grabbing her and shoving her onto its belt. The ghost cried out, and the guardian ran after it. The marauder, knowing it can't win against a guardian, even a new one by itself, ran and scurried away as fast as it could. The guardian, persistent and still confused, fired a stray shot, which wounded the marauder's leg. Screaming out in pain, the marauder stopped in its tracks. The problems weren't over from there though.

In fact, they had just begun.

The other Eliksni heard a loud gunshot, which a marauder wouldn't fire, then they heard a marauder screaming out in pain. Arming themselves, they got into a defensive circle formation and moved towards the sound. Knowing it was a guardian, the captain was hesitant to let his whole troop march forward, so he sent the other marauders to check it out.

The remaining four marauders, cloaked with their invisibility, made their way to the tunnel, only to find nothing. They found the body of the dead marauder, which was believed to be shot twice and then repeatedly stabbed. Its equipment was all gone, including its clothes. The marauders buried the body there, and went back to report to the captain.

The captain announced that they couldn't have gone far. Looking at the footprints and light trails left behind by the ghost, he deducted that they were probably going into the shipyard to steal a ship, or a sparrow, or some way of transportation. He knew a shortcut, so they would try and ambush him there. The rest of the Eliksni nodded and followed the captain.

The captain grinned under his mask.

The hunt was on.

The guardian, out of breath, sat inside of an old, rusty car in the cosmodrome. Panting, he looked to the ghost, who was generating magazines that she had analized. So far, they've made about 9 clips, which was more than enough. Fatigued from light exhaust, she fell on his lap and laid there. Neither of them said anything for what seemed like minutes.

It was the ghost who first spoke.

"So, you remember your name?"

"Hmm?"

"I said, do you remember your name?"

"Well, uh, I guess I could try remembering?"

The ghost just sighed. This guy was hopeless. And here she thought he was a catch. The guardian sat and pondered for a moment. What was his name? When thinking of his name, he could only think of a deck of playing cards. What types of cards were there again? Diamonds, Clovers, Hearts, Spades.

Suddenly, something clicked inside his brain.

Ace.

His name was Ace.

"I think it's Ace."

"You think? Well, I suppose if it's the only name you can remember. Nice ta' meet ya, Ace."

"Well now that I've given you my name, wouldn't it only be fair to give yours?"

"Ghost-25"

"Well, that name certainly isn't very attractive."

"Got a problem with it, hotshot?"

"I mean, yea. But it's not like I could change your name for you."

"You can, since you well, technically own me…"

A short silence befell the both of them as they pondered what the ghost just said.

"Wait wait wait, own you? I barely know you-"

"You're my guardian, so I guess your more of like a partner? Right, yea, that sounds a lot better than owning me. Ok, your my partner."

"Ok, lemme get this straight. I OWN, you?"

"No, you don't! But your allowed to change my name."

"But," sighing, the guardian just shook his head. "Nevermind. I guess I'll come up with a name for you."

Studying the ghost's outside, he tried to think of a name that goes with her attitude and appearance.

"Quit staring buddy, my eye is right here."

"Very funny. Now, about your name."

The ghost tried to hide her anticipation, since it was the first time a guardian actually bothered to give her a name, even if they were on the run from fallen scavengers. Holding her excitement back, she sat there quietly as he thought.

"Well, you gonna say it?"

"Well aren't you impatient. Guess Ghost-25 will just have to do for now."

"Wait! No! I was kidding, please, take that back, I don't wanna be named Ghost-25!"

"Alright, Alright. Quit your complaining. I'm not very good with names, so, how about Dia?"

The ghost's eye opened wide. She was actually pleased. It was a pleasant name and it would be something to set her apart from other rookie ghosts. Unable to hold her excitement, she started making circles in the air.

"I thought, you know, since it's short for diamond, and well, your shell reminds me of a- What are you doing?"

Taken aback, her mind comes back to reality, coughing, she tried to look aloof and calm, like it wasn't totally a big deal for her.

"Oh yeah, well uh, it's nice, I guess."

"If you don't like it, we can always change it…"

"N-no! I like it, it's a pleasant name! Plus, I wouldn't want to bother you, making you think of another name and all that and-"

As the ghost began rambling, the guardian observed his surroundings. His body felt strange. He hasn't really moved around in 100 years. By human standards, he was only 20, which is young for a guardian, who usually live up to 300 years old. By now though, he was pretty much done growing. Getting annoyed at the ghost's rambles, he balls up a fist and hits her hard on the soft part of her shell.

"Ow! Hey! I was complimenting your naming skills!"

"Yeah, Yeah, save it for later. You sticking with the name Dia?"

"...Yes…"

"Alright. Now can you explain everything to me?"

"Not yet, not until we're safe. But for now, maybe you can take some comfort in this. We are partners. I'll always be by your side, and you'll always be by mine. There are others like you, and there is a safe haven for them, but to get there, we'll need to get a ship."

"Hold on, always? Define always, and who said I'd be your partner?"

"But, you gave me a name, and you saved me from the Eliksni and-"

"You're jumping to too many conclusions, little lady."

The ghost, about to burst into tears, turns her back to the guardian. The guardian on the other hand, was having a good laugh. Trying so hard not to laugh that he was actually on the brink of tears, he taps her on the tip of her shell.

"What."

"I'm sorry. I was only joking. You were the one who literally brought me back to life after all."

The ghost turns around, still pouting and furious. "You really mean it?"

"I do. I'll be your partner. But first, define always."

"Always means always. Until we both die."

"Holy shit, that's a lot of commitment. You really wanna stick with a guy like me?"

"Language! And yes, I do."

"Alright then. I'm glad I met you today, Dia. Let's shake on our new partnership"

If the ghost could smile, she'd be brimming right now. Taking one end of her shell and meeting the guardian's hand, she shakes on it.

"From now on, you'll have to call me Dia. I'm very needy, so you'll have to fit all my requirements, you promise?"

"I solemnly swear that I will not take care of you if you are too expensive and I will abandon you at the first sight of danger."

"Wha- hey! That's not what we agreed upon!"

Laughing and full of smiles, Ace grabs Dia and ties her to the belt he stole from the marauder.

"Ace! Don't ignore me! You moron, without me, you'll die here! I should've left you in that stasis pod while I had the chance! Ace! Are you listening!?"

Ace climbed up onto the car just as the sun was rising. It's been a full day since Dia had first came to the cosmodrome. Taking a breath of fresh air for the first time in ages, he cracks knuckles and stands triumphantly on top of the rusted old car.

His legend was about to start.

But first,

"Hey Dia, I'm actually pretty hungry. You know where we can get food?"

"You're honestly so hopeless! I'll show you a ramen shop after we get back to the tower, so just get me to a broadcasting signal and I'll call for help from the tower."

"Tower? What's that?"

"A place you'll go to very soon, Ace, very soon."

But that, is a story for another time.


	2. Runaway

A/N: Round two baby! Cranking these out while I'm still super motivated, and school isn't being a total pain in the ass. Things get more dicey here, so I hope you guys enjoy! I also found some problems with dashes and posting on Fanfiction, so I'm trying to find a fix for that. Either way, there's gonna be quite a few updates over thanksgiving week, so I'm gunning to get the story either up to/past prison of elders by thanksgiving, and maybe at/past taken king at the end of next-next week. A little summary of what happened which lead up to this point:

A rogue ghost finds a promising hunter and with his help, eludes a crew of Eliksni.

Other edits/mistakes: Changing Dia's name to Diya. It just sounds better to me for some reason. Besides that, nothing else.

Ace groaned as he hauled his increasingly large sac of loot with him towards the teleporter Diya had marked. As they trekked the way to the teleporter, Dia told him that he was a 'Hunter', which was one of three factions in the 'tower', the last safe haven for mankind on earth. Seeing as he got distracted by anything shiny, it wasn't hard to distinguish which faction of guardians he belonged to. He didn't particularly like any of the marauder's armor/cloth, so he tied it all together into a large sac. He filled it with whatever he deemed of worth, Diya just watched and rolled her eye. She warned him that it would be too heavy for him to carry, but he didn't care. He stuffed it until the sac was filled to the brim with random 'treasures', which were really just junk. A few silver coins here and there, some ammo boxes, one or two engrams, and a whole lot of scrap metal and armor/weapon materials. Since the sac wasn't particularly large, Ace had to begrudgingly give up on some stuff. He was now regretting his choice of bringing all the scrap metal.

"Ace, just put it down! You'll have the opportunity to loot more once we get out of here first!"

"No, no, trust me. My killer instinct is telling me that this'll be useful. Always trust instinct."

"Don't be stubborn with me! Put it down, or we're not going home."

"If I don't leave, you won't either. You'll have no choice!"

The two argued for what seemed like ages. This conversation would last until they reached an old shipyard, long abandoned and completely destroyed by the fallen. Once they reached there, Ace stopped abruptly.

"Who gave you the right to talk back to me! I'll have you know I beat a titan with just- What are you doing?"

Ace ducked down and crouch-walked over behind a large metal container. Confused, Diya asked once again.

"Oi, Ace. Don't ignore me. What are you doing?"

Ace was fixated on a large hole in the wall. Confused, Diya was about to ask again, when Ace grabbed her and put her into the sac. Her muffled yelling could barely be heard. Diya tried to get out of the sac, when suddenly, a screech ran out from the large hole in the wall. She then realized. Horrified, she looked up to Ace for any sign of comfort. The young hunter's face was sullen and focused. Although he was stubborn and trigger-happy, he was quick on his feet and had a talent for coming up with plans in a short time. Diya could tell that, and she hadn't even been with him for a full day yet.

But, if they knew what the Eliksni were doing, maybe they wouldn't be too worried, after all.

The Eliksni were all napping.

The captain, insisting that they get rest, allowed his crew to take a nap in a large dead end, cave like hole in the wall. He and two vandals would be standing on guard. At this point, he had given up on searching for the ghost, and had instead found a ship that they could repair and use to leave. He knew that it wouldn't be worth fighting a guardian, since they were young and barely had any equipment. He wouldn't risk the life of the rest of his crew for one measly ghost and some scrap metal the kid dug up from the ground. What he didn't realize is that the guardian was quite literally a few meters at most away from them. Calm and composed, he started to whistle an old tune, and polished his prized rifle. The drowsy vandals didn't even bother looking around for any sign of the guardian.

The captain yawned. It would only be a matter of time until dusk fell. He'd like to get out of the cosmodrome by then, especially before the House of Wolves found them, and forced them to convert. They belonged to no house, and he had sworn that he wouldn't join unless a leader he would be willing to follow actually appeared. He scowled as he thought of the Kell. They were disgusting creatures to him, and would absolutely never follow one. The last time he was under one's command, well, it didn't end so well for his crew.

After all, he's the only one that survived the trial.

Ace checked how far the teleporter was. It was only a hairs away, he could see it from where he was, all he had to do would be to cross a hill and run directly to the cliffside. It would be less than a minute's sprint, but any loud movement would lead the Eliksni's attention towards him. He wouldn't be able to fight off a whole crew by himself. Dusk was approaching, and for sure he wouldn't survive nightfall. Sweat began gathering at the top of his forehead. Would he dash for it?

" _Dash for it…"_ the devil on his left shoulder whispered.

" _Yeah, why not."_ the angel on his right shoulder agreed.

"Wait, aren't you two supposed to be arguing?"

" _To be honest, no. Hunters' don't have an angel and a devil."_ They said in unison. The angel then proceeded to transform into a devil. Both of them, grinning widely, looked at him.

" _Now, you gonna dash or what, weak willed brat?"_

"Don't call me that, are you two even real?"

" _Hell no, you're just delusional. Now hurry up and run to that teleporter. The fallen are going to awake any second now."_

Confused, but apparently his gut was telling him to run for it, so, he would. Before that however, he knows that the fallen love loot, so with a teary eye, he pulled out his two glowing green engrams, and threw them right into the cave. Yanking the sac up, he bent his legs and pointed his knees towards the direction of the teleporter. As soon as he heard the engrams make contact with the ground, he'd sprint like hell towards the teleporter.

A soft clunk was heard from the hole. Followed by a loud screeching of a vandal.

Now, he decided.

Ace ran with all his might. His legs burned as he covered every meter. Panting, he scrambled over the hill and ran toward the teleporter. Looking back, he smiled. The fallen were meters away. Squinting his eyes and looking towards the direction from which he came, he saw a captain standing there. Smirking, he expected it to react with rage and fury, but it just shrugged and walked back into the hole.

Wait, did it just leave him alone?

Feeling like an idiot, he realized that he had just given two free engrams to the fallen, who had given up on chasing him, and he probably could've just silently strolled over to the teleporter, as long as he didn't make too much noise. Smacking himself on the forehead, he saw another figure come out of the hole. This time, it was a vandal holding the two engrams. It waved at him and did a hand gesture, like it was expressing thanks, and left.

Ace decided to sit down for a moment and think about his life decisions, right after he had been reborn a few hours ago.

Diya, who had finally struggled her way out of the sac, looked around frivolously.

"Where are the fallen? Are they still after us? Did you lose them?"

Ace turns towards Diya, sighs, and begins walking away.

"Hey, talk to me! What happened? Why do I feel like the sac looks a bit more empty? Ace? Ace!"

Ace slammed a few buttons randomly on the teleporter, and closed his eyes.

This was not what he was expecting.

The teleporter landed him in some sort of cavern base. It had weird red tech all around, boxes filled with generic weaponry, and a large door that had a padlock on the side. Looking around him, this didn't seem like a safe haven for mankind. He then heard a weird noise coming from behind a boulder. Curious, he went to investigate.

Climbing on top of the boulder, he looked down at the other side, and saw a weird, turtle, rhino looking thing that was bulky and held a large gun in one hand, and a small shield in the other. It wore heavy armor and looked like it was patrolling the place. Diya gasped as she saw the creature, and quickly pulled Ace aside.

"That's a cabal!" She whispered, "The teleporter took us to the wrong place!"

"Y'know, Diya, maybe next time check where it takes us before insisting on going in some weird teleporter. And what is a cabal? Why does it look so, aggressive?"

The cabal suddenly looked up. Yelling out something in their native tongue, its shield expanded and it planted it on the ground. Ace looked at it with fascination and interest.

"Whoa! That's so cool! Diya, you reckon we can get them to give one of these to us?"

Suddenly, bullets rang out from behind Ace, and he quickly slid off the boulder. Grabbing Diya, he unslings his Duke from his belt and runs around the boulder.

"On second thought, I'll just shoot him and take it."

The cabal shot from behind its shield. Rolling forward, Ace took advantage of his momentum, jumped into the air, and fired a shot into its back. Grunting, it turned around and attempted to bash it's shield into Ace. Ace rolls to the side and shoots at its legs. The cabal's thick armor, however, held its ground.

"This things tough!" Ace muttered as he shot three bullets at the cabal's head. The cabal roared and raised its shield to block the incoming bullets. As they were fighting, other Psion scouts took notice of the guardian in the room, and raised the alarm. The large doors opened and out came a marching group of perhaps a dozen phalanx, ready to engage into combat. Ace ducked his head from a swing of the phalanx shield, and gritted his teeth.

"Damn it, why do we always end up in these situations?"

Ace grabbed the phalanx's shield and used it to climb onto the boulder. All the other phalanx form a shield wall and raise their weapons. Ace breathed heavily as he rolled backwards. A few bullets barely miss his head, slicing off some of his hair. Unaware that Diya had been unattached from his belt, he looked around his shoulders and began reloading another mag into his hand cannon.

"Ace, now would be a great time to use your light!"

"Use my what? And when did you get unattached from the belt?"

"Look, just think of a really, really hot gun. Like a flaming gun. I don't really have the luxury of explaining how light works and all that jazz right now, so just think of a flaming gun!"

Ace thought about a flaming gun, as he was instructed by Diya. He thought really hard. He thought of his Duke Mk.34, completely on fire and shooting flaming bullets. As he was thinking, Diya ducked from a stray shot and hid behind Ace's back.

"Ace! You actually did it! I didn't think it'd work!"

Ace looked down at his hands.

There was a flaming gun.

"Wha- How does that even happen?"

"Light, thats how! Now shoot those guys with the flaming gun!"

Ace jumped from behind his cover raising the hand cannon above his head, the searing flames licked his hand, but didn't burn it, it didn't even feel hot. He pointed it down at a row of phalanx, and shot at their head. Three bullets flew out at incredible speed, almost unseeable, and slammed into the phalanx's heads. They roared out in pain as their body caught on fire, and their head exploded into tiny chunks. The other phalanx were scattered by this, and a few even caught on fire. The hand cannon returned back to normal as he landed. Ace, speechless, but knowing this was a fantastic opportunity, ran threw the ranks of the phalanx while yelling at Diya.

"How did that even work? That was amazing! Are you kidding me? That's like, some wizard level shit right there!"

"Stop fanboying about yourself and run FASTER!" Diya screamed as a bullet scraped her shell. She'd kill Ace later if that'd left a deep scratch. Ace ran till his legs gave in, and he stopped behind a shipment of weapons.

Ace looked around for any way of escape, until he saw it.

A beautiful creation. Like a tank and a plane mixed together. He was allured by its design and the massive turrets and cannons on the side of it. From this day forward, Diya learned never to trust Ace with any heavy weaponry.

He found a Thresher.

Running towards it with new found vitality, he ran to the door and found it to his disappointment.

It was locked with a password.

"Uh, how abou 4?"

"That's never going to work, not even the cabal are that stupid-"

"It worked."

Diya, speechless, watched as the door to the Thresher opened. The phalanx had ran in by now, and had saw Ace hijack their ship. Roaring out, they ran up to try and stop him.

Ace strolled into the ship, gawking at every little thing as the door shut tight. He eventually found himself at the pilot's quarters, and saw a bunch of buttons and levers. He had flown a ship before, right? Definitely. Ace pressed a large red button that had some weird cabal writing on it. The ship's engine roared to life as it was elevated from the ground. Not knowing what to do, he just sat down and waited for something to happen.

"Hey Diya, how do I pilot this thing? It's not flying."

"Here, just, let me do it…" Diya sighed as she scanned over the entire construct. She quickly flipped some switches and pressed a few buttons. Some panels came up, to which she pressed more buttons, and entered a coordinate. Ace just looked on, confused.

"Uh huh, mhm, right. That should do it. I set it to auto-drive and the destination as the tower. We'll be there in no time."

"Ok."

The ship crashed through the roof of the base, the whole ship rocked violently as a large missile indented the side of it. Ace, holding his head and groaning, looked out a window and saw that they had just left through a massive hole in the ground. Diya, focused on the panels, didn't see a massive boulder come flying and smashed into the side of the plane. The impact knocked the radar out, and lights in the back fell and made a crashing noise.

"Damn it! We'll need to fly at maximum speed if we want to get out of here alive! But it's locked on safety mode, so we need to turn it off."

"So, in essence, you want me to climb to the engine and turn off the safety switch."

"Yes."

"But won't I die?"

"Eh, I live, so it works out in the end."

Ace begrudgingly obliges and ties himself to a seat on the Thresher as he climbed down. Cabal were running after them, now with massive mobile interceptors. He took a deep breath, and let go of the rope. Using the momentum from the fall, he swings himself closer to the engine, crawling over to the engine, he grabs onto the lever. A rocket came and hit the side of the Thresher, causing it to wobble, losing his grip, he pulls down hard on the lever as the harness he made drags him back into the ship. The engine roars to life.

"I actually did it!" Ace yells out, triumphant.

Diya smiles as the Thresher blasts through the sky with new-found speed. The thresher had taken some pretty considerable damage though, so whether they would make it to the tower or not was still in question. But, for now, they were at least safe.

Diya turned to Ace, about to make some witty comment about how she saved the day, when she saw him sprawled on some seats, collapsed from exhaustion. She drifted next to him.

"Y'know Ace, you're a lot cuter silent than not." Diya smiled as she brushed his hair out of his face. She had barely known him, but she knew somewhere deep down that she'd found the perfect guardian for her. His soft breathing soothed her as she laid down next to him. Her face lit up when she thought of what her friends would say when they saw her guardian. The tower was only a few minutes away at the speed they were going.

Diya thought of all the things she had done today, and felt a lingering smile crawl onto her.

"I had almost given up on finding a guardian, since no one wanted me. I know that you might not hear this, but I'm really glad I found you, Ace. If I didn't find you today, I would've given up forever. You showed me that guardians can be more than just selfish and conceited. Thank you."

The panel glowed softly as the lights in the Thresher dimmed. It read: '55 minutes until landing in The Tower.'

Ace had just woken up from a short nap, his back aching and still drowsy. They had just landed in what seems like a hanger. Diya was nowhere to be seen. As he stepped off the ship, he noticed robots cleaning, moving things, unloading, and polishing the hanger. As he looked onward, he saw a group of people gathered around a table.

"So there are others…" he muttered as he jumped off the ship. His boots made a soft thud as he landed. Casually strolling along as he took in what he saw, he approached the group and struck up a conversation with a blond lady working on some blueprint.

"Hey! The name's Ace. I'm new round' these parts, so you mind explaining to me where I am?"

The lady chuckled as she got up from her work bench. Taking off the goggles and sliding them onto her head, she studied the young guardian with a smile.

"I know this is off topic, but I like the way you talk, guardian. Lotta moxie! You can call me Amanda. I'm the shipwright. Pleasure to meet you."

"No, the pleasure's all mine. Mind me seeing what you're making?"

"Go right ahead! I'm working on a design for a new type of sparrow. It has wings and is flown, almost like a glider. Problem is, I don't got enough parts, so I'll have to try and make a prototype with what I got."

"What's a sparrow?"

"It's a-"

"It's basically a floating motorcycle." Diya said as she peaked over Ace's shoulder.

"Jeez Diya! You startled me. Don't do that without warning!"

"Yeah yeah, weren't you asleep? Why're you suddenly up flirting with Amanda of all people?"

"Of all people? That's quite rude now isn't it? 'Diya', was it?"

"I don't need my guardian getting distracted by every pretty face in the tower. Now let's go, Ace."

"I don't mind the compliment, but I get this weird aura of jealousy from you…"

"I-I'm not jealous. Now come on Ace! There's a lotta people to introduce you to, and not a whole lot of time, so let's go-"

A loud clunk was heard from the stairs, to which all heads in the room turn towards, and all conversations cease. A blond, well combed, bulky framed titan struts down the stairs. People sneer and a few roll their eyes. Most, however, bow their heads.

"Well well, seems like the stray found herself a partner, ey? Well, I wouldn't be really so proud if I were you, little light. This pathetic roadkill of a guardian isn't someone of my caliber should wasting time on-"

A knife flew threw the air, barely missing the titan's head, and leaving a light scratch across his face. The knife dug deep into a wall and blood seeped from the titan's wound. All the bystanders gasp and look towards the young guardian like he was delusional.

"Seems like the brat wants to fight. Alright peasants. Move aside. Looks like I have to teach this kid a lesson in respect."

Amanda quickly rushes to Ace's aide. Trying to put distance between the two, she reasoned with the titan.

"Look, he's new, alright? He doesn't know of your reputation. Hell, he doesn't even know who you are! Just calm down. If you're going to pick a fight, fight someone of your own crucible tier."

"Move, shipwright." The titan pushes Amanda aside. He gazes at the young hunter, not saying a word, until…

In one motion, he raises his fist and throws a right uppercut. Ace rolls between his legs and grabs his neck. Knowing he would lose in a close up fight, Ace slid to the side while holding on, crashing him into a table and into the ground. The titan quickly got up, seemingly unfazed by the attack, except for the tiny stream of blood coming from his lip.

Ace attacked first this time. Running forward, he grabs the titan by his inner-shirt and brings his face close to his. Both just stare at each other for a while.

"Listen. I don't care who you are. I don't care if you're some 'hero' or some shitty aristocratic brat. You make fun of me, you'll get it back two fold. You make fun of my ghost, you get it back ten fold."

The titan grabs Ace's arm and pushes it aside. A look of mild interest was mixed in with overconfidence into what can only be described as 'A sneer or smirk that makes you really want to hit them.'

The titan throws Ace a large satchel he unbuckled from his belt. Ace took off the string holding it together. Inside were weapon parts and armor parts, a few blue engrams, and some ammo synthesizers.

"My name's Ares. Remember that, since it'll be the name on your grave." the titan wiped away the blood on his lip as he walked away, leaving Ace to take his bold remark.

"I don't fight outside of the crucible. Since you're new, I'll take pity on you and give you some supplies, but since you dare raise a finger against me, I will not have any mercy for you."

"Good." Ace shot back as he threw the satchel at the titan's feet. "I don't want your pity."

The titan was now extremely entertained. He regarded the hunter as a measly mongrel in the beginning, but now this one's peaked his interest.

"Fantastic. I wouldn't have it any other way. It's currently a sunday, so I will give you until next sunday afternoon to prepare yourself. I will use everything and anything I have against you. Do not hold back, for I will not either. Do not bother telling me your name. I won't remember it after I bury your dignity along with your pride."

The titan leaves the hangar, leaving behind a room of gawking people and nervous whispers. Amanda storms over to Ace and pulled on his ear, yelling loudly at him.

"Are you kidding me? It's not even your first day and you start a fight with the Romania faction? Look kid, you realize that you have not even a shred of an armory or a following, but the fact now is that you've made a powerful enemy, and it hasn't even been a day!"

Ace stood silently. Diya couldn't believe what she had just witnessed. Her guardian was willing to put everything on the line to defend her. Although Ace may have not realized the weight of the situation, everyone else did. Even a pair of watchful eyes from afar.

The nine watched with interest at the kid's move.

"Xur, go follow that kid. If he's got potential, bring him here. Feel free to bring some engrams and exotics with you, if he needs some _persuasion._ "

Xur silently nodded.

Ace stood, pondering at what he'd do next. He knew he had to fight this guy, but how? Either way, he would fight him, so for now, maybe work on his aim and reaction speed.

This was a fight he wouldn't lose.

No,

He may have not realized it now, but in the near future, he'd realize that this is a fight that he couldn't lose.

But that, is a story for another day.


	3. Reputation

A/N: Chapter 3! This one's more of a training montage. Not much to say. (Btw Thanks Soul Survivor for the support :D really means a lot lol.) Sorry this took so long to get out. Had some stuff to do this week as well as a surgery coming up so :I

Recap: Ace steals a ship and flies into the tower, then gets into a fight with a prick to protect his ghost.

Ace grunts in pain as Diya shines a restorative light on his hip. The titan had a strong grip and being scraped by his armor wasn't helping. Amanda said she'd get him something to help him in the fight, but she hasn't returned, and it seems like she won't be anytime soon. His brain was already running off, thinking of ways he could get the titan back. Diya just watches silently as Ace's methodical mind was unwinding itself.

Amanda frowned at the two when she had returned. Trailing behind her was a green sparrow she had made out of some spare parts, and she didn't have a use for it, so she thought that Ace might.

"Heya rookie, I thought you'd need one'a these. Might not help with your showdown, but it'll certainly help when your gathering resources or patrolling."

"Rookie? Don't you know my name?"

"Names are a pain, especially if the person that they refer to is going to die in a week and never come back."

"I'm not going to die to aliens that easily."

"I'm not talking about the aliens, rookie. Oh, and by the way, have you met the new titan? The kid's apparently a total prodigy. Zavala and the rest of the vanguard are all swooning over him, but the fella doesn't even remember his own name!"

"That's, strange."

"I know right? For now, we just refer to him as 'Guardian', but since we're all guardians, we'll probably think of a nickname for him sooner or later."

"Interesting."

"And then, there's that warlock girl. Absolute monster in the crucible. Apparently Shaxx's raised her since she was a little girl. Shaxx is calling her his 'proudest disciple', and the 'true prodigy he was looking for,' blah blah. Basically, you got some real competition."

"Mhm."

"While both of them are talented in the field, they both have something that distinguish them from you greatly."

"Which is?"

"They don't pick a fight immediately like a dumbass! Unlike you, who almost stabbed and punched the shit out of a member of the Romania, and the _strongest_ of them."

"Right. Ok."

"Are you even listening?"

"Hmm? Yeah, 'course I am."

"Repeat what I just said."

"Uh, something about some dick who picks on socially awkward ghosts and struts around acting like he owns the place has an armada of hookers that he'll send after me if I accidentally shined his shoe the wrong way."

Amanda sighs and drops the sparrow on the ground. She looked at Ace with annoyance and extreme levels of frustration.

"I swear. I was going to give this to you for free, but now you're paying me back. That's gonna be a thousand glimmer in the future."

"On second thought, I won't accept your weird bike thing."

"Don't call it a weird bike. And also, shouldn't you be showing some more gratitude for someone who's been trying to help you?"

"Oh dearie me, I'm oh so grateful that you, my mistress, bestowed upon me this divine creation, one that matches the work of the gods! I am forever in your debt." Ace says as he screams at himself internally with disgust. After spewing out those lines, his hand instinctively went for his hand cannon and was about to pull the trigger into his own leg.

"Good, that's more like it. Now, get out there and go introduce yourself. Might as well make some friends before you die, right?"

Amanda pushes Ace out of the hangar doors and leaves him standing there awkwardly next to a cleaning robot. The robot pays him no attention, even not minding his snow and mud covered boots sloshing the ground. Ace apologized quickly and took off his boots, but the robot just titled its head and looked at him.

"It's quite alright. I am used to this type of service." The orange robot straightens up and salutes Ace, leaving him to question if it was morally correct to try and make a lower workload for robots.

Ace strolled up the long stairwell up to the doorway of the North Tower. Diya cuts him off, shines her light at a small scanner, and the door opens up automatically. Both of them are silent and continued to walk through the door into the tower.

Ace never really got time to admire the beauty of places he had been to, since all he had spent his time doing was running around trying not to get murdered by aliens and other humans, but even he could marvel at the fantastic sights of the tower.

The glowing of the sun, almost setting, shined onto the tower, illuminating it with its essence. Street lights, decorated with banners of many colors and designs drifted in the wind, glowed brightly and formed a beautiful archway. A massive looming pillar was set above, assumed as a watchtower. The walls and floor were neatly polished, simplistic yet appealing in design, and framed the different shops and booths nicely. In the center was a fountain, surrounded by a small garden with pink and golden yellow petals. People were casually talking and enjoying themselves. Children's laughter can be heard echoing as they presumably played and chased each other around. In the middle of all of this, was a grand gateway to the central tower.

To Ace, the sight was breathtaking. He knew he'd get used to it eventually, but for now, it was fantastic. He was eager to speak with the people of the tower, but hesitated running up to them, in an attempted to not seem like a country bumpkin. Walking slowly toward the main tower, he took in everything he saw with great wonder and excitement.

As he passed by one of the booths, a lady gasped and whispered something to the man next to her. He scrunched up his face and brought his kids in, telling them not to wander too far off. People around Ace began doing the same, although they tried to hide it, he could tell they were muttering and whispering about him. Embarrassed, but keeping control, he pushed his way through a group of people lollygagging at the entrance. He wasn't particularly angry, he just felt disheartened that judgment had befallen him so quickly without him even getting to speak. If this was the effect of picking a fight with an aristocrat, he'd hate to imagine what'd happen if you chose to fight the vanguard.

Ace's eyes immediately drifted to an elevated stand that was directly north of him. He saw a large table with weapons neatly lined up, racks alined with boxes of what he could only assume as weapon parts and ammunition, armor stands set in an organized shelf, it was the ideal workplace for any smith.

Ace runs along the rail to the stand. Seeing nothing no one there, but a plethora of weapons, ammo, and armor, well, let's just say his inner hunter was calling out to him. The owner won't miss some materials and gun or two.

Ace slings a blue sniper rifle onto his belt, and buckles a green rocket launcher to his back. It was heavy, but for what it's worth, he was completely willing to take it. He also snuck out a ton of supplies and ammunition, allowing Diya to scan the ammo for 'research' purposes. He found a nice, secluded, dark spot to the far east of the main tower, dropped all his stuff there, threw it under a container and whistled his way back to the main tower, like nothing ever happened. He decided to bring the sniper rifle, though, and slung it on his back.

People gave him weird looks everywhere he went. Diya hasn't spoken a word since they had left the hangar. Deciding that he wanted to get away from all the attention, he headed for the large set of stairs in the middle of the ground. His footsteps were silent, so no one underneath heard him coming.

Peaking around the wall, he looked to see if anyone was there. No one to his right, which had many banners, trophies, medals, and a locked door that seemed to lead into another room. Many red symbols with two swords crossed were plastered everywhere, along with some generic tracking technology. To his left, there were some generic moving boxes and a few cleaner bots sweeping the floor. Seems like someone's going to move there soon.

"Are you looking for anyone, perhaps?" a shrill voice came from behind Ace. The voice sent shivers down his back.

"M-me? Uh, yeah, I guess. I'm just looking for someone who can um, explain some things to me?"

Ace turned around and saw a giant piled mess of mysterious, glowing green lights, swirling mist came from strange technologies he'd never seen before. The woman standing there wore draped green clothing, and had a weird three eyed mask. Her hat glowed extremely brightly and her hands were wrapped around some green rock looking thing. The whole image scared the hell out of Ace.

"They're all down there." She said, as she pointed towards a large silvery door with a diamond shape and a cross going inside of it. The woman's face showed no expression as she went back to her work. Although Ace was curious, he decided he would be better off not asking questions.

"My name is Eris. Do attempt to remember it. Just remember, young one, that curiosity kills the cat." Eris's lips curved into an attempt at a smile, but it was crooked and filled with disdain.

"Right, thank you." Ace knew he'd be getting nightmares the next time he slept.

Ace made his way down the hall and rapped his knuckles on the door. No response. He knocked again. No response. He started banging loudly on the door. Still no response. He looked back at Eris, perhaps a sign of help, but she was too engrossed in her work to notice his cry for help. Ace continued to knock on the door.

"Who's there?" a voice came from within.

"Huh? Oh, I'm just a rookie looking for some directions and explanations on some things. If you guys are busy, I can always come back later."

"Well, you're late to the seminar, but I suppose we could let you in."

The large doors shuttered as they opened up. A few voices groaned in annoyance.

Inside was a large table, surrounded on all sides by many faces and assortments of people. The one sitting at the head of the table was a large, bald, blue skinned man with light blue eyes. He wore a suit of armor dawned in orange and blue. His face was calm and expressionless. To his right was a bald, dark skinned, brown eyed woman who wore purple robes that dropped to her feet. Golden shoulder pads and knee pads framed the outlining of the robes. She, like the man at the head of the table, was expressionless. The uh, robot? To the man's left was a silver robot, with blue plating and glowing blue eyes. Small golden sparks came out of his mouth as he presumably breathed. He whistled as he spun in his chair, seemingly uncaring of the visitor that came in.

Many others were in the room, but Ace didn't have time to identify them before-

"Speak. What is your question?" The woman on the right asked,

"Well, let's start with the most generic one. What're all your names?"

"Why would you want to know?"

"Names are powerful."

The robot on the left chuckled. "Knowing her name won't make you any stronger kid. Trust me, I've tried chanting it in front of an altar. Didn't work."

The woman on the left could have shot flaming daggers at the robot with her scowl if she wanted to. She shook her head and looked to the man at the head of the table.

"I suppose we owe you an explanation. Let's start with an introduction first. I will start."

"I'm waiting."

The man raised a brow to Ace's remark, but said nothing else. "I am Zavala. You may call me Commander for the time being. I run the vanguard operations and command the defense of the tower"

"Pleasure to meet you, 'commander'."

The robot snickered as he looked at Ace with interest. "You got guts, kid. I like you. Whaddya' say we hop outta here and go loot some fallen-"

" _Cayde."_ The woman growled as cracked her knuckles. Her slanted, menacing look was sharp enough to cut steel.

"Well, seems like not everyone shares our humor. Anyways, guess I'm next. The name's Cayde. Cayde-6, I help teach and manage the Hunter vanguard operations. Everyone 'round here calls me Cayde, but you, my friend, can call me-"

The woman on the left smacked his head hard with the book she had in her hand. He groaned as his hands went up to smoothen out his cloak and his horn.

"My name is Ikora. I manage the Warlock vanguard operations."

Next, an extremely large man stood up and crossed his arms. The sheer aura of the man was enough to nearly make Ace bend down and bow.

"I am Shaxx, you may refer to me as Lord Shaxx. Your disrespect will not be tolerated with me, or the crucible. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Lord Shaxx."

Zavala almost flinched at the difference in tone when referring to him and Shaxx. Ikora and Cayde noticed. Ikora rolled her eyes, and Cayde had to stuff his cloak in his mouth to try and not laugh.

Next, a blue robot on the other side of the table stood up. He had sharp horns and blue eyes.

"I'm Banshee-44. My memory's not too great, so do bare that in mind when you come to order a weapon from me. I'm the weaponsmith and the manager of general supplies."

"Well, with all the introductions aside, I'm-"

"Oi. Wait your turn, commoner."

Ace's eyes drifted to a young female sitting next to Shaxx. At first, the sight almost put him in a trance. She had long, caramel brown hair, tied in a long ponytail some strands fell into a natural semi-circle shape that framed her face. Her hair almost touched the floor, it was to the point where Ace wondered if she had extensions. She had gorgeous purple eyes that almost changed shades when you looked at it from the side, a perfect cut nose and cheekbones that framed her eyes fantastically. Her lips were a soft pink, like the petals he saw in the north tower. It was like seeing a flower, if a flower was made into a really, really cute girl.

Well, besides her personality.

"Well, I'm sorry, go ahead. I'll wait till you finish _princess._ "

Her eyes narrowed as she stood up, probably to square him up. She was around 5'10. Ace noticed his eyes drifted to her bust, which were abnormally large. Maybe 100 cm? He wasn't great with women's anatomy. She was very curvy and had strong, well defined calves. He could tell that her calves, while smooth and silk-like, were strong and had been trained well. He tried to avoid making eye contact, in case he'd show weakness.

"Call me that one more time and you're thrall feed, you hear me?"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever."

She sat down and took a short breath. "Ahegao."

"What?"

"Ahegao. That's my name. I'm the assistant to Lord Shaxx."

"Right…"

"I guess we're done now. So-"

Suddenly, Ace felt a tapping at his side. He looked down his left.

A titan was waving at him, silent. He had messy black hair that curved in all sorts of directions, calming brown eyes, and a very handsome face. Well defined cheekbones, pinkish-red lips, and a smooth chin to top it off.

"Are you uh, going to introduce yourself?"

He just pointed a thumb up and shook his head.

"Are you mute?"

The titan shook his head.

"Do you just, not want to talk?"

The titan nods, glad to see that Ace finally caught on. Ace just shrugs and shakes the titan's hand instead.

"Alright, now I can finally do my thing. I'm Ace. I uh, am a new guy around here. If you have questions for me, feel free to ask. I don't remember much, but I'll try to answer as much as possible."

Cayde's eyes narrowed after Ace gave his speech. He looked at the young guardian with uncertainty and doubt. " _Well, he certainly looks like him,_ " he thought as he studied the young man.

The first hand that shot up was Cayde's.

"So, tell me a little about yourself. Your birthday, your age, your height, your three sizes, your kinks and fetishes-"

" _ **Cayde",**_ Ikora spoke calmly, but the emphasis was made clear.

"Sorry, yeah, I know. Don't scare the new kid. I know ok! So stop glaring at me!"

Ace thought about it for a second. He turned to his pocket to look for Diya, but she wasn't there.

"Huh, where'd Diya go?"

"Diya?" the warlock on his right asked.

"My ghost."

"Probably somewhere you're not."

"Thank you, captain painfully obvious."

"Hey, buddy, answer my questions." Cayde yelled as Ikora threw several books at him.

"Well, memories being a bit foggy. I don't remember my birthday, but since this is the day I was revived, my ghost says that my birthday can be today, so, I guess September 4th."

"September 4th… Wait, that's today!"

"We know!" The whole room yelled as Cayde once again speaks without thinking.

"Well, then, happy birthday. Drop by later. I'll get you a present before sunrise."

"I appreciate the thought, but I'm good. Maybe next year. Doesn't sit right to get gifts the moment I'm here."

"Your loss, kiddo."

"As for my age, I believe I'm 17."

"17? I thought you were like, 20!"

"Eh. My ghost thought that too. Is it the height? Or am I just old looking?"

"Nah, man, you look like your 16. You just act like such a bastard that I thought you'd be-"

" _ **CAYDE."**_

"Yeah, ok, I'll shut up now. H-hey, Ikora, I said I'd shut up, so just put down the dictionary, please!"

"For my height, I'm about 6 foot 6 inches, or so I'm told. My three sizes are-"

"We don't want to know." the warlock on his right, again, snapped.

"Ahegao, was it? You got any questions?"

"I have one."

"I'm listening."

She smirks as she looks at Ace with the same look a noble gives to a beggar.

"You are a hunter, correct?"

"The hell's that?"

"Judging by your demeanor and the way you speak, you are more than likely a hunter. Would you like to know how many hunter's I've bested?"

"Not really, no."

"Over nine thousand hunters in the crucible. Your quick tongue will earn you nothing but a quick defeat at my hands, peasant."

"I thought you had a question…"

"So, if you are so full of yourself, fight me in the crucible tomorrow morning at sunrise."

"Nah, I got fight already in like a week. Plus, I don't hit women."

"Using excuses? Truly, you are a weak willed, feeble minded brat who's only-"

"Look, ma'am, if you want to fight, I'll fight you, but with conditions."

She raised an eyebrow in curiosity.

"Speak them. Let us hear what handicaps you request of me-"

"If I win, you have to do everything I say. There will be no complaints. No tolerance, and no way to take it back."

At first, everyone in the room were silent. But within a few seconds, they bursted out laughing, with the only one not being the titan. Ace looked around them confused.

"What? Is that such a high demand?"

Ahegao, holding back tears, replied. "No, such a challenge is fine. I request nothing in return if I win. We shall fight at sunrise."

The titan looked to Ace for a response. Ace just shrugs and leaves. The titan follows. The rest of the people in the room continue laughing like it was the funniest thing they've ever seen.

Ace mumbles to himself as he leaves.

"Well, that girl was cute. It's a shame she's so stuck up and such a brat. Man, if only she had a better personality… Ah well. After I win this fight, I can tell her to shut up. That'll be worth it I suppose."

"She's not so bad once you get to know her."

Ace whips around to find himself face to face with the titan.

"You … Talked?"

"I don't speak that often."

"Ah, I see. Well, your friend certainly is cute, isn't she?"

"She is."

"Man, but I wish she'd be nicer. If she had a better personality, she'd be like a saint."

"But she is a saint."

"Oh? Mr. Loverboy's got himself entangled with the wrong man then. Careful I don't spill your secret to her."

"I don't view her that way."

"Right."

"Aki is a good girl, she just has trouble being friendly and getting along with people. Being socially awkward, like your ghost, has driven people away from her. Crucible was her way of venting."

"I see…"

"When she's happy, her voice is silky-smooth, and she's always got a bright smile that can lift the spirits of thousands. It's just, being trained by Shaxx since an incredibly early age has made her pressured into being the best. It makes it hard for her to befriend anyone, let alone get into a relationship."

"But wouldn't you be like, the perfect guy for her? Since you understand her and all."

The titan shook his head.

"I already have someone I admire."

"Alright, alright. I won't pester you about it. So, you're telling me to be nice to your friend so she can get over her social anxiety or whatever."

"In a way, yes. I understand your frustration, but please be patient with her. Rarely anyone gives her a chance to even speak with them."

"But aren't a lotta guys going to be like, really into her?"

"Yes, there are a lot of people who find her attractive, but her hate of men has driven them all away."

Ace shook his head and laughed. "Of course she hates men too. Fantastic."

"She just hasn't met the right guy yet."

"Sure, sure, whatever. Some prince charming's going to come save her. Anyway, how 'bout you give me a name? Out of all the guys in that room, you seem like the only sane one, so I wouldn't mind getting to know you a little better."

The titan smiled. "I don't remember my name, but, you can come up with one for me."

Ace's jaw dropped.

"Seriously? You mean it? Like, genuinely mean it?"

"Sure."

"Ok, ok, what's the most dumbass-sounding name I can think of, uh, Chad? No, Veronica? To hell with that! He's a guy!"

The titan laughed as he saw the young guardian struggle with name finding.

"Ok, ok, I got one! How about, Bungie?"

"Bungie? I like it. It's funny sounding."

"Exactly! But maybe that as just a nickname, for your actual name, let's go with, uh, Chad? No, that can be your middle name. What's a good first name?"

"How about Genesis?"

"Ooo, cool sounding! We'll go with that. So your full name is Genesis Chad Bungie."

Ace couldn't contain his laughter as he shook his new found friend's hand. The two young men strolled out of the tower headquarters.

"Alright," Ace said while controlling his laughter, "Mr, uh, Bungie, can you show me the shooting range? I need some practice before I go into a fight."

"Do you even realize who you're up against?"

"No..? Isn't she just some stuck up introvert who has problems making friends?"

"She's also the number one ranked guardian in the crucible of this generation, the 'golden generation', as Lord Shaxx calls it, and the third best crucible guardian of all time, right behind Ikora and Lord Shaxx himself."

"Wha-What? She's that one warlock that Amanda mentioned!"

"Everyone in the tower knows her, Ace."

"Jesus, so I have to fight her, and that one rich, shitty brat?"

"Rich shitty brat?"

"Oh yeah, I'll tell you about that later," Ace laughed as he stretched out his arms.

Almost contagious, Genesis began laughing too. The two young men/boys just laughed together seemingly without purpose.

"I think we should call you Gen for short."

Genesis nodded.

"Going back to being silent, huh?"

Genesis shrugged.

"Well, I got a lotta preparation to do, and not a lotta time. Whaddya say we put some pep in our step and hurry along to the shooting range?"

Both young men could be seen sprinting down the corridors of the tower that afternoon, looking at one map to the next.


	4. Pride and Judgement

A/N: Hey everyone! Sorry it's been a while. School's been busy and I haven't really had any motivation to write, but a friend of mine reminded me of how much I liked to write, so here I am again. I'm sorry this update took so long, I'll try to limit it to weekly updates, but the updates will be smaller.

Edits: The girl's name will now be Aki, at the time I didn't know what Ahegao meant and a friend suggested it as a name, so sorry about that lmao.

—

Aki scowled as Gen made his way to her, showing a friendly smile and a wave of a hand. She rolled her eyes as he sat next to her and slid a folder onto the table.

"What do you want this time? If it's about that shitty hunter I'm leaving right now."

Gen just shrugged and continued to push the folder towards her, beckoning her to take it without using words. She eyed the folder for a bit before reluctantly opening it. Inside was Ace's file and the description on his fighting style, weapon preferences, favorite date places - she was going to question why that was in the file, but she decided not to after contemplating it for a while.

Aki grabbed the folder, stood up, and proceeded to toss it into the nearby trash can. Gen sighed and shook his head slightly. Aki looked at him with disdain and annoyance.

"I don't need your help beating someone like him."

"You'll end up regretting it later."

"Someone of his caliber won't be a hassle for me to beat. He's probably scrambling to create a tactic to beat me right now!"

"Personally, I don't think you should underestimate someone, even if they are less experienced than you."

Aki gave a short, stuned laugh. She looked at Gen like what he said was almost unbelievably stupid.

"Do you honestly expect him to beat me? You're the one underestimating me here."

Gen gave her a broad smile and scratched the side of his head.

"I'm not underestimating either of you. I just came here to warn you, which I do time and time again, to not overestimate yourself and to berate others because of your past achievements. As I always say, one of these days you're going to lose becau-"

"And as I always do, I prove you wrong by beating them. No matter their tactic, no matter their equipment, no matter their class. I always win."

Gen looked at his friend with a sense of disappointment, like a mother who just watched her daughter touch a hot pan after telling her not to. He wished that sometimes she'd stop taking people and things for granted, and gain some humility for once, but it's difficult to find anyone who is even close to her skill level, let alone anyone who wants to challenge her.

"Perhaps," He thought, "She'll learn humility after suffering a terrible defeat at the hands of someone she doesn't consider to be a worthy adversary." He smiled at that thought. Perhaps that person was practicing right now, awaiting his showdown in the fiery pits of the crucible by sunrise in the next morning.

Well, not to disappoint him, but he wasn't.

—

Ace was sleeping. Like, straight up just napping on some boxes in a secluded corner of the tower.

He was tired, even after sleeping on the flight to the tower, (granted, it was only like an hour flight.) Also, after he had split off from Gen, he had spent a considerable amount of time searching for Diya. She mentioned something about finding an "old friend" of hers, or something like that. By the time Ace gave up on searching, it had already been several hours. Sunrise was at 6 in the morning, and it was 2:00 am. Both his left shoulder devil and his right shoulder devil agreed that the best approach to this fight was to be well rested. He wouldn't want his legs giving out in the middle of the fight after all, he'd get pinned down and- wait. On second thought, maybe getting pinned down wouldn't be that bad after all.

Suddenly, Ace felt a tap on his shoulder. He tried to ignore it, but the tap slowly became a shake, and eventually he felt a strange, soft, liquidy on his shoulder. Then, something slimy slapped his face. He jolted awake, his eyes still droopy and body mostly numb. His vision hadn't completely cleared yet. All he could see was a hooded man with a hunched back. The man made a motion to stay silent, and took out some sort of liquid in a clear glass bottle and held it out to Ace. Well, held is a nice way of describing it. It's more like he shoved the bottle into Ace's mouth and forced him to chug it. Ace knocked the bottle away quickly after being forced to swallow some of the liquid, and quickly rubbed his eyes.

When his vision cleared, the man disappeared.

Convinced that it was a dream, Ace thought nothing of it and went back to sleep.

Wait, why is he going back to sleep?

Ace suddenly felt a surge of energy through him. Even though he's only slept for 2 hours, he feels like he's slept for 20. Ace stood up, stretched, and assessed his situation. It was now 4:00 am. He has 2 hours until his duel began. The best course of action now would be…

As he was thinking, he spotted Gen walking towards him. He hopped down from the ledge he was napping on, and greeted Gen.

"Hey! What're you over here for?"

"Did you … by chance … see a hooded man?"

"Yeah, why?"

"And did he … offer you anything? Engrams … weapons … rare items … anything?"

"No, I don't remember anything like that."

"I see…"

"So, why are you here?"

"I thought about showing you the crucible arena that you'll be fighting in tomorrow."

"But that sounds like a pain in the ass…"

"It's up to you. I'd recommend coming with me if you want to take advantage of your terrain tomorrow."

Eventually, Ace gave in. He followed Gen to the hangar, where Amanda was dozing off. Gen shook her lightly, but she gave no sign of waking up, so the two left her alone and nabbed the keys off her.

"We're gonna 'borrow' Amanda's ship for a bit, mine's in repair, you alright with that Ace?"

"Why, it'd be my pleasure to steal Amanda's ship and take it for a joyride, Gen."

—

The Nine watched with a careful eye on the two, and on Aki. They seem to be of interest, and could be perhaps useful for something in the future. They stood watching, in a dark room located between the thin lines of Time and Space

"Xur, have you given him the object we gave you?" an ominous voice called out.

Xur simply tapped his hands together and watched through the vast mirror that divided the realm the Nine lived in and the current solar system. He took a particular interest in the titan. Something didn't sit right with him about this one.

"I believe he doesn't have a name … Ah, right. The name he goes with now - Genesis, was it? Interesting. I'll have to see what these three have awaiting in their future."

The Nine's plan wouldn't be set into motion for quite a while, but their interventions were made clear throughout the travels of these three guardians, but, those are stories for another day.


End file.
